More Names

The Social Security Administration publishes a list of the names most commonly given to newborns. Here are last year's top ten:

Rank	Male name	Female name
1	Jacob	Emily
2	Michael	Emma
3	Joshua	Madison
4	Matthew	Abigail
5	Ethan	Olivia
6	Andrew	Isabella
7	Daniel	Hannah
8	Anthony	Samantha
9	Christopher	Ava
10	Joseph	Ashley
Note: Rank 1 is the most popular, rank 2 is the next most popular, and so forth.

You can follow the above link and see, for example, the top 1000, which includes Tyler (#16 as a boy's name, #764 as a girl's name) and Madison (#3 as a girl's name). Which leads me to think of president's last names that have been given to some famous, infamous, and semi-famous persons as first names (though often without reference to the President being honored or dishonored):

• Washington (Irving, author of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which engendered the terrible movie starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci)
• Jefferson (Davis, leader of "The Lost Cause")
• Madison (Kuhn, obscure historian -- but not a girl)
• Jackson (Pollock, artist dribbler painter)
• Harrison (Ford, still life car dealer film actor)
• Tyler (Mathieson, of CNBC)
• Taylor (Booth, computer scientist and namesake of an education award)
• Pierce (Brosnan, ex-007)
• Lincoln (Chafee, Republican in Name Only)
• Grant (Hull, founder of Enabled Solutions -- never heard of him or it, but I found his name here)
• Hayes (Milam, a security guard at the think-tank at which I worked, for about as long I worked there, which was 30 years)
• Arthur (Godfrey, entertainer/radio-TV host remembered mainly for playing the ukulele, buzzing the control tower at Leesburg, Virginia, airport, and firing singer Julius La Rosa on the air)
• Cleveland (Amory, cat lover and writer)
• Roosevelt (Grier, immovable object defensive lineman)
• Wilson (Pickett, recently departed R&B and soul singer)
• Truman (Capote, American poof writer)
• Ford (Madox Ford, English aesthete writer)
• Carter (Stanley, Ralph's very late brother)
• Reagan (Dunn, member of the King County, Wash., council and son of former U.S. Representative Jennifer Dunn)
• Clinton (Eastwood, still life film actor -- bet you didn't think of him as a "Clinton")

By my reckoning that leaves

• Adams (not to be confused with Adam; John wasn't the first "man")
• Monroe (cooler than Madison)
• Van Buren (way cool)
• Polk (might be mistaken for an invitation)
• Fillmore (for fatties)
• Buchanan (pronounce it properly: "buck-an-un")
• Johnson (don't go there)
• McKinley (very preppie)
• Taft (ditto)
• Harding (double ditto)
• Coolidge (triple ditto)
• Eisenhower (no parent should do this)
• Kennedy (déclassé, an instant Tiffany or Brittany)
• Nixon (the American Adolf)
• Bush (absolutely don't go there)

Any takers?